VC firm launches virtual matchmaking event for Midwest startups and investors
With face-to-face meetings between investors and startup founders sidelined due to the coronavirus, a Chicago VC firm is launching a new virtual matchmaking initiative to connect entrepreneurs with tech investors. Sandalphon Capital, led by Jonathan Ellis, has launched the “midwest.tech/connect” virtual summit, a virtual event that aims to connect startups across the Midwest to venture capital firms and angel […]
Illinois Innovation Network announces seed funding recipients
The Illinois Innovation Network on Monday awarded seed grants to teamsthat will use collaborative research to improve nutrition, turn trash into usable products, explore urban-rural connections, and enhance agricultural practices. The funding is part of IIN’s Sustaining Illinois program, which is designed to increase collaborative research among the state’s public universities, focusing on the economy, health, and […]
NCSU Chancellor’s Innovation Fund Supports Six Promising Projects
Research that starts at NC State doesn’t end here. The Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF) is one way we work to ensure our research reaches the places it’s needed. “As a land-grant university, our mission is to positively impact the lives of the residents of North Carolina and beyond by commercializing state-of-the-art research to solve societal problems,” says Wade […]
University startup ecosystems could help economic recovery
In the wake of the pandemic, mass unemployment looks inevitable: corporations are now facing decisions that could make many of their middle-tier staff — literally millions of jobs — redundant. Every single action in response to pandemic recovery is time sensitive. If we don’t invest in venture growth and reskilling at scale now, we will […]
NIH-funded Network Led by XLerateHealth and UK Supports HBCU Commercialization
The University of Kentucky and XLerateHealth, a national startup accelerator, are partnering with Jackson State University (JSU) to launch a program that helps advance and commercialize innovative human health focused ideas from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The program is receiving support from the XLerator Network, an NIH-funded accelerator hub that supports health care innovation […]
Brown to fund biomedical technologies with commercial potential, patient benefits
Ranging from technology that analyzes the cries of infants for signs of opioid withdrawal to gene therapy treatment for post-traumatic osteoarthritis, five projects led by Brown University research teams have each been awarded $100,000 to help translate their scientific discoveries into commercial products that benefit patients. In its second annual cycle of awards, Brown Biomedical Innovations […]
This Maryland accelerator is helping to turn clean energy tech into startups
The immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shock are the focus of plenty of societal problem-solving efforts right now. In the long-term, however, climate change remains a vexing challenge that’s not going away. The environmental imperatives of reducing emissions and creating clean energy options offer an area where new technology can play a role in […]
What Startup Funding Will Look Like in a Post-Covid-19 World
The first challenge facing startups in America, Europe and the rest of the world is to survive the pandemic. Not many have survived, and many others have hibernated while the storm has lasted. The fortitude to restart after such a huge blow can be even harder to come by than the fortitude they needed to start in the first place. […]
The four pillars of a successful science spin-off company-Nature
A successful entrepreneur has to pull things together and influence people. They need to be able to raise money, be good at presenting ideas and building trust, and know how to lead and inspire a team. In my part-time role as entrepreneur in residence at the Francis Crick Institute in London, I mentor scientists taking […]
$194.7 Million Grant Will Transform Research Engine at U of Arkansas, Create New Institute
A $194.7 million grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation will establish the University of Arkansas Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I3R), transforming the research, innovation and economic development culture of the university. The grant is one of the largest single private gifts ever given to a university for advancing research and economic […]